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It was not the first time I got this error message when trying to analyze results on LoadRunner Analysis. This is pretty strange since from the controller the test seemed to run fine. Usually I would just discard the test results and re-run it, just to avoid troubleshooting another problem caused by a LoadRunner bug that probably messed the results, but this time I decided to take some time to just check what was happened to the results.

When I tried to analyze raw results on Analysis, the import process fails and the error log has the following message:

This seems really strange, but first thing I tried was to open the .lrr file with a text editor. Searched for the Stop_time parameter and apparently it was missing. Start_time was there and apparently with the correct test start time. Let’s try to include Stop_time to the file and see what happens.

Both Start_time and Stop_time are Epoch, or UNIX time, which is pretty much seconds since 01-01-1970. Just to be sure, check your Start_time with a converter like . If the time is correct, do the math to check how many seconds your test ran. For example, 1 hour equals to 3600 seconds, 2 hours 7200 and so on. Take this number and sum it with Start_time. Add a new parameter called Stop_time and use the result of your sum. Eg.:

Had this small problem today and I believe it would be interesting to share the solution. I was “forced” to update to Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) and for my surprise, VuGen crashes when trying to record anything with it.

My first thought was to check for patches. No patches, LoadRunner was already on version 9.52 (9.50 + 9.51 patch + 9.52 patch). Checking some forum posts I’ve found that the issue can be caused by the “Disable Execute Bit” (DEP) functionality. So how to disable it??

You have to open the boot.ini file (C:\boot.ini) and add the following string to your boot line:

I’m seeing a lot of searches for Timeout issues landing on the blog these days.

This is a very common issue when executing a scenario, meaning basically that the server has not responded in a specified amount of time. LoadRunner defaults to 120 seconds on all Web based protocols (HTTP, WebServices, Click & Script), but this can be easily changed using a command on the begging of the script, web_set_timeout.

The command have only two parameters, the operation and the new value. The operation can be one of these three:

CONNECT: To establish the connection to the Web server.

RECEIVE: Time–out on the next “portion” of server response to arrive.

STEP: Time–out on each VuGen step.

Usually the one we see expiring the most is STEP, for obvious reasons. The error message should look something like “Step Download Timeout”.

The second parameter is the new value, expressed in seconds. So if we want to set up a new value for STEP we have to insert this code in the beginning of our action:

web_set_timeout("STEP","240");

Being 240 seconds our new value.

Usually I change the timeout value of all three operations, just to be sure:

The WebLogic SNMP monitor is enable in the Controller as default. If you need to monitor Weblogic JMX, you have 2 options:

Use the SiteScope as a monitoring tool instead of Controller;

Enable the Weblogic JMX monitor into Controller.

To do this you will have to configure online_resource_graphs.rmd file – located under <LoadRunner DIR>\dat\online_graphs: update the EnableInUi param of the relevant monitor (i.e. for WebLogic (JMX): search for the [WebLogicJMX] section and update its EnableInUi param).

You might be thinking why I’m publishing this here or why do I need a Citrix ICA file. For now I’ll just say that this is an important first step towards performance testing Citrix applications. The full article is not ready yet, but I thought it would be useful to reproduce this information here first, in case the source goes down.

Summary

This article describes how to obtain an ICA file through Citrix Web Interface 4.5 and Web Interface 4.6.

Background

In Web Interface versions earlier than 4.5, you can obtain the ICA file contents using Internet Explorer by using the Save Target As… option when using a link in the applications page (or a similar operation in other Web browsers). When using Web Interface 4.5 or later, this operation no longer results in the ICA file being downloaded.

Procedure

For Web Interface 4.5:

Complete the following procedure:

When using an unsecured transport mechanism (HTTP):

Change the file type association property. To do so:

Open Windows Explorer.

From the Tools menu, click Folder options…

Select the File Types tab.

Select the ICA / Citrix ICA Client extension.

Click Advanced and select the Confirm open after download check box.

Click OK and then click Close.

Once this is done, each time the application launch is attempted (by clicking the application launch link), a dialogue displays asking if you want to open or save the ICA file. Clicking Open launches the application. Clicking Save allows you to save the ICA file to the desired location.

When using a secure transport mechanism (HTTPS) with Internet Explorer:

When using a secure transport mechanism, the ActiveX control (ICO) is used to launch the application (this does not involve saving the ICA file), hence the file cannot be saved. However, changing some settings in Internet Explorer can modify this behaviour so that the ICA file is downloaded. To do this, configure Internet Explorer so that it does not trust the ActiveX control and therefore reverts to downloading the ICA file. Use the following procedure:

If the site is currently in the Trusted sites or Local intranet zone list, remove it (the site should be displayed in the Internet zone).

If you are using an operating system that has the Enhanced Internet Explorer Security Configuration enabled, this feature must be disabled (go to the Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components section).

Adjust the settings so that Internet Explorer can download files using the following procedure:

Once these changes have been made, follow the same operations as described in the HTTP section above.

For Web Interface 4.6:

Use a Firefox browser to enumerate the application icons. Right-Click and save the file to the desired location.

Edit the saved file in Notepad. Remove the “RemoveICAFile=yes” line so that the ICA file is not deleted from the desired location when the application is accessed.

-Or-

Use Web Interface 4.2 or an earlier version to create the desired ICA file.

Edit the saved file in Notepad. Remove the “RemoveICAFile=yes” line so that the ICA file is not deleted from the desired location when the application is accessed.

-Or-

If the server farm only contains Presentation Server 4.5 servers, use the Presentation Server Console from Presentation Server 4.0 (Note: Do not use this console to make other changes) and use the built-in feature to create the ICA file by right-clicking the published application. Else, use the Presentation Server Console as normal.

-Or-

Use Internet Explorer 6 or 7 (if asked to save as .aspx, save as .ica) and ensure the Web Interface site is accessed via the internet zone (e.g. by IP address or FQDN)